Stephen Koch
Software Engineer
Overview
Director level manager and software engineer with 20+ years of experience planning, developing, and scaling full-featured and responsive websites, iOS applications, and products. I’m experienced in every aspect of frontend development including team leadership, project scoping and planning, UX design/evaluation, template-to-code translation, testing, deployment, and delivery. I pride myself on being a fast learner who keeps up with the latest trends and technologies. I bring my extensive experience to the forefront of user experience and design, where I play a critical role in using the most modern technologies to ensure an optimal final product.
Leadership
Having managed a team of engineers, I’ve learned the importance of mentoring and assisting engineers with their own growth within an organization. In recognizing their strengths and weaknesses, and identifying room for improvement, I’ve helped create an environment of trust that allows each individual to thrive in their work. Building a successful team can be nuanced and challenging, however I feel it is ultimately rewarding to lead a team to success, and to help individual engineers find the confidence to grow and learn from each new challenge they face.
Technology
S3, AWS, CSS, EC2, git, IAM, JSX, Lit, MDX, npm, php, Node, SASS, Twig, yarn, Mongo, MySQL, Nginx, React, Redux, Docker, Drupal, Gatsby, Lambda, Sanity, Vercel, Emotion, Express, GraphQL, MongoDB, Netlify, Next.js, Prismic, Rush.js, WebPack, Firebase, git-flow, Markdown, Route 53, Tailwind, Craft CMS, Lightsail, Wordpress, Cloudwatch, CommonMark, Contentful, JavaScript, TypeScript, API Gateway, CSS Modules, Objective-C, React Native, Elasticsearch, Web Components, Styled Components
Experience
Robinhood – New York, NYSoftware Engineer, Web →
Jul 2025 – present
Supporting the Sherwood News editorial team.
Highlights
- Maintaining Sherwood.news built with Next.js and Contentful
- Implementing new features as requested by the editorial team
- Integrating Breaking News and Push Notifications into Robinhood app from Sherwood News
NTT Data/Launch/Postlight – New York, NYAssociate Director, Engineering →
Jan 2022 – Jul 2025
Most recently built out Sherwood News for Robinhood and currently iterating and maintaining the CMS and frontend stack. In addition to client work, I manage a team of 6 engineers working remotely, contribute to our growth framework for a better understanding of an engineer’s path within the organization, hold individual 1:1 meetings to ensure engineers are equipped to succeed, and meet regularly with senior leadership to ensure the health of client relationships throughout our organization.
Highlights
- Research and implement 3rd party integrations within the CMS to enhance the editor experience
- Work with all disciplines to understand project goals, strategize, and implement
- Foster relationships with clients to further drive engineering efforts within their organizations
- Assist with the hiring process for all engineers
- Contribute to project staffing
- Participate in company-wide project triage which includes scoping, engineering work, and client relations
Postlight – New York, NYLead Engineer →
Jun 2019 – Dec 2021
Joined as a Lead Engineer to drive and lead projects, working for The Obama Foundation, Goldman Sachs, and Nasdaq. During that time, I predominantly worked with design teams (both internal and client teams) to develop and implement design systems for fast development of pages.
Highlights
- Specialized in CMS development (decoupled), creating unified documentation for both design and engineering from a large monorepo, and building custom components to add to the overall design system
- Took a deep dive into TypeScript compilation using Markdown code fences and parsers to create a live editing experience for React components
Blenderbox – Brooklyn, NYDirector of Frontend Technology →
Apr 2018 – May 2019
Joined a well-established backend team to revitalize and modernize the frontend engineering capabilities and to change how the company approaches projects together with the UX and design teams.
Highlights
- Began building a frontend engineering team
- Worked to decouple frontend (React) and backend technologies (Django)
- Focused on accessibility issues
- Worked heavily with Google Maps and Mapbox API for the MySchools project
- Created a Component Library in React for reusable code for all projects
Token – New York, NYSoftware Engineer →
Oct 2017 – Apr 2018
Brought on as the second engineer to develop features for the frontend experience on token.ai, a specialized gift ecommerce site. Gained knowledge and experience building and improving a product vs. client work.
Highlights
- Developed Elasticsearch capabilities for products and contacts
- Created a system to ‘favorite’ products
- Built a system to allow users to schedule the delivery date of a gift
- Wore many hats and participated in all aspects of engineering due to the small size of the company
Hard Candy Shell – New York, NYDirector of Technology →
Mar 2014 – Jul 2017
Introduced engineering as part of the core offering. Built and managed a team of frontend engineers that specialized in rapid prototyping of client work. Maintained all backend architecture for the team and participated in weekly client status meetings, forming an intimate understanding of each project’s needs. Contributed heavily to UX approach and strategy, while advising on potential development issues and implementation requirements.
Highlight
- With my team, I developed a boilerplate application for all client work (AWS/Express/forever) to expedite development
Big Spaceship – Brooklyn, NYAssociate Director of Technology →
Sep 2012 – Mar 2014
Led and worked closely with a team of developers to implement project requirements. Participated in client meetings to facilitate expectations and get a better understanding of client needs. Enhanced my abilities with build tools and deployment.
Highlights
- Architected, developed, and deployed the Ken Burns iOS app with a small team of engineers
- Learned about streaming video formats and how to best optimize an iOS app to handle streaming videos
- Contributed heavily with design to create a first class video player for the iPad
Big Spaceship – Brooklyn, NYTechnologist →
Jan 2008 – Sep 2012
Switched to web standards and began learning what is now the definition of a frontend developer. Relied heavily on PHP and MySQL for server side development and I specialized in more of the backend/data side of projects.
Highlight
- Integrated 3rd party APIs into projects
Big Spaceship – Brooklyn, NYActionScript Developer →
Dec 2006 – Dec 2007
Started as a developer back in the days when Flash was king. Developed, deployed, and maintained several turn-based games. Developed ActionScript animation libraries for all projects. Collaborated with the design team to implement Flash based EPK sites and games.
Highlights
- Co-developed an isometric game engine for turn based-games
- Worked with film studios to create games and sites for the films Quantum of Solace and Grindhouse
Learning Worlds – New York, NYActionScript Developer →
May 2002 – Oct 2006
Built a product for SAP field reps to output PDFs for clients.
Highlights
- Continued growth as an engineer with ActionScript
- Pushed the limits of what could be done with ActionScript
- Created several side projects with artists using Flash which utilized RFID
Freelance – Paris, FranceActionScript Developer →
2000 – 2002
Worked with several companies in Paris to help build small in-house Flash modules, micro-sites, and games.
Berlitz – Paris, FranceEnglish Teacher →
1998 – 2002
Taught English to adults using the Berlitz method and maintained the computer lab.
Highlights
- Learned French
- Aided students who wanted to learn computer skills
Recent Projects
Sherwood News
Jun 2023 – present
Built and launched new news site for Robinhood.
Highlights
- Iteratively modeled data with Contentful for variations in content types
- Integrated Imgix API and Getty Images API for editors to seamlessly search and add images
- Worked closely with design and UX for a best-in-class editing experience
- Analyzed post launch data to iterate on homepage updates
- Manage team of engineers for ongoing maintenance, migrations, and feature development
Nasdaq
Jan 2022 – Dec 2022
Assisted with internal design system component implementation.
Highlights
- Worked closely with senior leadership to drive decisions for best practices
- Helped to identify workflow issues and plan for improvements for efficiency
- Assisted with creating the new homepage experience (2023)
- Used Web Components to allow for complex layouts for different devices and viewports
Goldman Sachs
Jan 2021 – Dec 2021
Worked with a team of engineers to consolidate engineering and design documentation from disparate systems and assisted with the build of a framework to allow for the creation of quick external facing sites for internal teams.
Highlights
- Lead a months-long CMS search which culminated in extensive work to create the backend for specific customer facing sites
- Worked with design to create the design system for customer facing sites
- Worked with a large team of engineers and a fast paced codebase
- Created a “site builder” using Next.js and Adobe Experience Manager as the backend
MySchools
Apr 2018 – May 2019
Assisted with NYC Dept. of Education in getting the first online submission site for NYC students, K-12.
Highlights
- Focused on accessibility issues
- Built a team of frontend engineers
- Worked closely with backend engineers to ensure data integrity
- Dealt with design and UX issues due to the site’s eleven languages
AQI
Jun 2023 – Jun 2023
https://www.koch.dev/aqi/19145
With the Canadian fires burning, the northeast was experiencing record highs of the Air Quality Index. This is a simple page for me to check current conditions based on a zip code.
Highlights
- Built in an evening
- AirNow API
Artistic Elements
Oct 2022 – Mar 2023
https://www.npmjs.com/package/artistic-elements
A collection of very simple Web Components to create art.
Highlights
- Learned about the Web Components API
- Compared the Web Components API to Lit.dev to ultimately decide on the latter framework for ease of use
- Used modern tolling such as rollup.js and @web/dev-server
Color Mixer
Feb 2022 – Mar 2022
https://www.koch.dev/projects/color-mixer
Taking two colors, mix them to find the resulting color.
Gradients
Feb 2022 – Feb 2022
https://www.koch.dev/projects/gradients
An exploration of color and gradient creation.
Escher Tiles
Nov 2021 – Dec 2021
https://www.koch.dev/projects/escher-tiles
An exploration of Escher, creating tiles with CSS.
Swi{css}ted
Nov 2018 – Oct 2022
https://www.koch.dev/projects/swissted
An exploration of CSS to recreate Swissted posters.
Highlights
- Began with Styled Components
- Spawned the creation of a new project (Artistic Elements)
- Migrated to Web Components using Artistic Elements
- Migrated from Gatsby to Eleventy
Education
Drexel University – Philadelphia, PA
1988 – 1989
Entered the Mechanical Engineering program, left after the first year. I quickly realized this wasn’t my future.
Stockton State College – Galloway Township, NJ
1989 – 1990
Began what I’d hoped would be a better fit: Marine Biology. Again, I realized this wasn’t my future.
Fun
Lived in Paris for 4 years (French speaker)
Played music in NYC for 5 years
Drummer and casual guitarist
Gardening
Gaming
Exploring new technologies